Second day of the trip and we are managing to survive the Sicilians drivers. They are even crazier than in the rest of Italy: they either drive too fast or too slow with nothing in between. They come from everywhere, they don’t make their stop and don’t seem to look around them so you have to do it for them. The idea seems simple: the bigger your car, the more priority you get, especially when going into a roundabout! Pedestrians and motorcycles aren’t a whole lot better. Luckily, Pierre is a good driver and very careful.

The day began with an Italian breakfast, filled with sweets, where we discovered the “cornetto” – a variation on the croissant that has the taste of panettone and is filled with either chocolate or custard. Those at our B&B were mouth watering being home made. Another of our pleasures in Italy is the delicious coffee. We don’t know their secret but it is the best in the world. When we travel in Italy, we have a ritual of stopping several times a day to have either an espresso or cappuccino. And as it costs almost nothing, it’s easy to indulge.

So, a second day on winding roads through the Nebrodi Park (Parco naturale dei Nebrodi) and through villages perched on hills. This isn’t one of the most visited regions of Sicily, but we really enjoyed it. A circuit of 200km (124 miles) that has led us from mountain to sea (see map above). We made stops at Castello di Nelson in Maniace, Cesarò, San Fratello, Sant’Agata di Militello (no pictures), Capo d’Orlando, Naso and Ucria before returning to our B&B.